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2003 Africa - Two Trips Reports - July and November
These reports start life as emailed updates sent home while we are in transit. They are later reworded somewhat before being published on the Internet - to carefully respect the cultural and political sensitivities of the region... To save download time, many of the images here are hyperlinked to a larger more detailed one if you want to have a closer look. They aren't just a log of activity, but we try to offer insight into what we experience, and how it affects you.
At the risk of boring you all, we thought you might catch a glimpse of life here through these little cameos we send. It's broken up into sections you can jump to. We hope it gives you a balanced view of this marvellous part of the world; especially after some of the overseas media reports that have given (to us at least) a somewhat unbalanced view of life here at present. We hope these reports help allay some of the fears many of our friends and prayer supporters expressed before we left.
This first bit was written halfway across the Indian Ocean from Perth to Joburg. We had a very busy and enjoyable time in Perth which was marred somewhat a few hours ago by Brian living up to his reputation at being last to arrive at the airport for a flight. We made it with time to spare (but we aren't saying just how much time…). And by the man booking on before us saying his brother and sis-in-law were murdered in Joburg just yesterday. The situation there requires constant appraisal of safety strategies. Our hosts in Perth were pastors originally from Durban and they reiterated the need for extreme caution in Joburg at all times.
23/5 update from Joburg - our hosts Fritzy and Sherry (relatives by marriage) have given us a wonderful look at the "other side" of Johannesburg - quite different to the common reports we get in Aussie. Elizabeth and walked today for an hour around the streets without any cause for concern - just don't take anything with you or wear any fancy stuff. African people are very responsive to public greetings as you pass by them in the street - far more so than at home where everyone looks straight ahead and avoids eye contact!
Fritzy is my father-in-law's 17 y/o grandson, whose mother and sister were blown to bits by an enormous letter bomb in 1985 sent from the old SA Govt's Death Squad. Sherry raised him after his father (re)married later. Their story is the subject of articles in various books, and came up before the SA Truth and Reconciliation Commission last year. Mandela called Fritzy's father (Marius) just three days before he died of lung cancer last year. Marius was an Afrikaaner who was regarded as a traitor by the Afrikaaners because he joined ANC and fought for an end to Apartheid. He was imprisoned in Pretoria for 12 long years. The family is marked by deep pain still. Makes us ever grateful to the freedom we have inherited in Australasia, doesn't it?
Something a little lighter! Brian finally had a breakthrough in the gift of interpretation of tongues - at 5.30am in the morning to be precise. That's after all the guard dogs started barking furiously at 3am. Anyway, we erupted out of sleep to the loud cry of a Muslim Imam around the corner, who was yelling in Arabic, supposedly calling the faithful to prayer. But we just KNEW that at 5.30, in the pitch dark, he was really saying, "all right you lot out there across the street! I can't sleep and I'm gonna make sure none of you can either!". Sherry says they have repeatedly asked him to turn down his newly installed boosted loudspeaker system, but he doesn't. Imagine if someone gave him a beat box and a Celica to drive around in….
26/5 update from Harare - we have now settled in with our hosts, Dave and Jen Hess, who Elizabeth stayed with in Mozambique in 1991. Their church is in the middle of their annual convention - who should be their main speaker last night? Phil Pringle, from Sydney Northern Beaches! He had to follow two hours of African praise, climaxing in a guest appearance by one of Zimbabwe's best known performers, who did a 10 minute+ item that had the whole 4000 congregation movin' and a shakin'!!!! He was their equivalent of John Farnham doing reggae! The way these people move is a sight to behold in itself! Such a contrast to the British background that also lingers on in part here.
The altitude (about 5000 feet ASL) makes jogging difficult for the first few days. We have been walking an hour a day in between commitments. Gasping when we step up the pace. We went in for our visas to Mozambique this morning - last year's application by Brian and Des was an expedition in red tape in itself - worthy of Fawlty Towers - waiting in a queue for four hours, complete with loud arguments, religious discussion, and much frivolity. But this year, after targeted prayer - a miracle happened! We walked in and there were only THREE people present! If you have been to Africa you already know that queues are an integral part of the culture. Time doesn't have the same meaning here. Take your watch off and work by the sun's position in the sky… So this really was a miracle! We walked out (still stunned) in about 15 minutes.
MOZAMBIQUE DOULOS Our week went well with a surprising number of pastors turning up (25) while two other pastors' seminars were on elsewhere in Beira. Some travelled 200km a day round trip on shaperzays to get there. Have a look on the Lifeline page. The city still smells the same! Sewerage city. Some signs of progress are appearing but it's gonna be a long, long haul… There's another shipwreck on the beach!
The amount of aid getting through in the traditional relief networks is pretty well standard for this part of the world. Some gets through, but there are new vehicles driving around with relief organisation signs on them. And much aid is reported to have "disappeared" - as usual. But Lifeline's Ezra project is motoring along in control, with block making going on at our back door here! The main river was 200 kilometres wide at the worst flooding! Can you believe that? The winds measured up to 260 kph!! Elizabeth and I brought into Mozambique an additional $A2000 of support for the ministry here, provided by people outside our own church's support (another $A4000 / $Zim 90,000) which is distributed out from Harare. The people here are so grateful for the support that is shown by people so far away, "who having not seen, you love" This is truly one way of showing God's love across the oceans. Even the pens we brought from Sydney have been gratefully received by pastors who struggle to even buy the small things we take for granted at home.
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We set out on Saturday for Bulawayo and the second Doulos Training Course for pastors and leaders. That's 900 km via Mutare stopover and Masvingo. The next two (Bulawayo and Banket) are both in English. Brian's vocal chords took a bit of a pounding in Mozambique with the load of daytime teaching and nighttime preaching. You might pray for us both for continued good health.
MASVINGO STOPOVER We had a bit of a trial in Masvingo, in that our vehicle's oil seal perished over the last 300 kms, AND we were too low on diesel on go on from where we are staying at Masvingo - halfway to Bulawayo (and they had had no diesel deliveries in this district for three weeks). Then we saw God's provision. The vehicle was in the garage for most of the day - they had the right parts (seals, timing belt, diesel filter). That's the first praise point! And what a miserable day it was too, raining all day (most unseasonal in Zimbabwe this time of year), but while we were in there, talking to the supervisor about the repairs, a tanker came in. The queue stretched back for a long way and they were selling 20 litres per vehicle. Brian mentioned we were due in Bulawayo the next day and were nearly out of diesel. The supervisor said the fuel they had would not last the queue (our vehicle was still in bits). But then he asked if we would like 20 litres; Brian said it would sure help. A little later, he asked if 40 would get us there, then 50! He had his men fill 2 large jerry cans, right on the spot. So we ended up with a full tank + 15 extra litres in the back, with no hours of waiting in the queue. This mightn't sound much back home, but here this was a series of miraculous provisions. We were standing in the rain in the driveway stunned. And thankful!
We've talked to a number of farmers since being here and it's a very tense time for them. We've also been told forty hotel/lodges, the ones with arable land, have had their land occupied so of course no-one will come and stay although the accommodation itself has not been taken over. That bit of information, I don't think, has reached our shores. This has not been violent, we add, but is very, very tense.
The main attraction in the Masvingo area we stopped at for two nights en route from Mozambique, are the Zimbabwe Ruins. It's a world heritage site and awesome to walk / climb through. Because our vehicle was in dock, it was 4pm before we could get there yesterday, and raining, but we took a guided tour and ended up tramping all over the place in the dark and wet. It was so surreal… We paid $A7 for a personal guided tour (we were the ONLY visitors to use a guide the whole day - the crisis here has killed tourism dead). Two training female guides came along. The paths to the King's mountain-top enclosure are very, very steep and one of the girls was wearing smooth based sandals! The two trainees were both committed Christians, as was the park ranger. We are staggered how often the Lifeline sign on the vehicle is recognised! The security man at our lodge proudly told us he is completing the Lifeline correspondence course at present! And our head waiter has asked us for a Bible and correspondence material. That's what makes Zimbabwe such a joy to travel about in. So many of the ordinary people have a deep love for our Jesus and a hunger to grow in their understanding.
I (Brian) talked to our guide about cost of living - he earns $Z2500/month (= $A104), gets accomm. but no food. His wife and child are 2 1/2 bus trip away and he spends $Z480 each weekend going there and back. This leaves him the princely sum of $Z600 PER MONTH to live on…. That's $A28! Less than we would spend often on a meal for two. Tipping is not an option here for a believer, it's a compulsion. As so many of these we have met are fellow believers. (top of page)
LATER UPDATE FROM BULAWAYO We tried to send this last update from Masvingo but the "Internet café" wouldn't take it! The power blew up again and my (battery-powered) notebook was the only thing working in the shop! Happens all the time they said….
We have just finished the second Doulos program and are staying in Bulawayo with George Moyo, speaking in his church later today. Brian's cold turned to a badly infected throat and he finished his material in considerable pain, with virtually no voice at all. If delivery counted for anything, the students would have gotten nothing out of it! But they did. They called Elizabeth, Momma Elizabeth! She took the 10 young women attending in separate sessions and they loved it! More secret women's business. Honestly, the Zimbabwean people are the most warm hearted saints we have ever met. They get into your heart so quickly.
War vets invaded a farm nearby two months ago and folks are nervous. We pulled into town late last night to find the neighbour of our host was invaded by robbers the night before while she was home alone. They cut through the razor wire, the window bars, and glass, then stripped the house of virtually everything while the poor woman locked herself in her bedroom. Can you imagine what this does to people's nerves here??? Praise God we found more diesel too. Enough to get us to our next course 480 kms away, and then back to Harare. We are sleeping in our TENTH bed since leaving our own. The last were shockers. You have to feel called to do this stuff in this part of the world…
We had a marvellous time in a four hour service today with George Moyo's church in Bulawayo. They meet out in a "township" area. 300 people jammed in a large simple hall. and did they sing! Brian preached/croaked his way through (they found a PA system just to help him out), and the interpreter seemed to take forever to translate what he was saying. It turned out he was translating into TWO languages - one after the other. This is brilliant! But nobody told us… Shona and Ndebele. And praise God for mercies again - we saw a small queue at a diesel station way out near the township and only had to queue for 10 minutes to fill up again with diesel. Mavis Ford rang to say Harare is totally out of diesel at present. Our hearts went out to a queue of people standing in the dark to obtain a 5 litre can of paraffin for their cooking. The queue was at least three hours long - no kidding. (top of page)
AFTER THIRD DOULOS SERIES AT BANKET - we have been very pressed for time by the intensity of the three week travelling and training schedule here. The chair I am sitting on to type this was borrowed a few days ago for a large funeral right here of a white commercial farmer who was murdered by robbers. This wasn't political, but the lawlessness from the top is filtering right down and everywhere we have been people report increased lawlessness. Now we have just arrived back in Harare after three weeks of travel to teach in three Doulos leadership training courses at Beira (Mozambique), 900 km west to Bulawayo, then 500 km north to Banket (in the heart of a commercial farming area). We have been updating this by the wonders of modern communications in the heart of Africa, on our missions trip to Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Beira still smells like no other place here! And there has been a major crisis there at present, what with the floods and disturbances. You can follow it on our home church's webpage. Pray for us and the Lifeline team there, who are helping rebuild storm damaged homes.
Our time in Zimbabwe and Mozambique so far has been an exciting time of catching up with old friends and making new ones too. We have already been ministering by candlelight (no electricity in the church), doing extended equipping sessions with a good turnout of local pastors in Beira for three days straight. We then drove the Lifeline 4WD 900 km to Bulawayo, stopping at Mutare Vumba hills (devastated by 260 km/hr cyclone in Feb), Masvingo (where we survived a major engine problem and no diesel for three weeks at the garage the vehicle was being fixed at - to be miraculously given 50 litres in 2 cans to get us to Bulawayo!).
Our sessions in all three programs were well received; an election takes place the day we fly out and the country is bracing itself… The (boarding) school one of our host's son attends is closing and sending all students and teachers home indefinitely, because of concerns for the safety of the teachers. Hard to imagine this if you have only known Aussie elections! Brian's material got reworked as we went along, as we tried to make it relevant to each differing group of students. Quite a few pastors attended as well as younger developing leaders.
Brian's vocal chords became badly infected in the second series and he was in great pain for a week. Could barely whisper, and was saved by a PA system being brought in for the third series. Thank God that the important thing in ministry is the CONTENT rather than the style or delivery of the teacher!
Elizabeth adds; what a lovely place this Banket is. It is a rich agricultural area so in spite of the present economic difficulties, people here are able to grow food for their staple diet - maize (they call it mealie). That's the advantage of living in the country. Most mornings we've walked and prayed along various local tracks, though we seem to spend a lot of our time saying "Hello" and "Good Morning". These rural folk are very friendly and we feel very safe here. It's an interesting thing that although many in the village live in 'third-world conditions', they don't seem unduly distressed or unhappy - in fact, the many children you see on the roads and in the yards are happily playing with whatever. No sophisticated toys here! The one thing that reminds you that all is not well is the high electrified fences surrounding the commercial farms.
This Doulos program is being held in a restored hotel in the centre of this little town where Loxley and the students are staying. A local Christian farmer bought the property some years ago and has made it available to Lifeline for a reasonable sum. Brian and I are guests in the home of the local senior pastor who lives in the village 20 minutes walk away. Each day there are five sessions - very heavy going on Brian's voicebox.
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16/6 FROM HARARE We have returned to Harare after the very moving end of the last Doulos series. A wonderful communion time and honest heart-searching discussion about the way forward for us all as leaders of God's people.
The locals have taken to calling Elizabeth - Momma Elizabeth; and it has stuck! They are such an affectionate people. The highlight of each of the 15 session series I have done in each course has been my illustration of what every culture considers "normal" in a friendly, brotherly greeting. I do an exegesis on "greet one another with a brotherly kiss", then ask the young women if they feel comfortable when the young men quote this Scripture to them as justification for a smooch. They look aghast. Then we do a look at differing cultures view of the "normal" way to greet one another in a warm brotherly way.
We start with the Zimbabwean way - a lingering holding of hands (they gasp when I tell them they would be suspected in Australia of being homosexual); then British - formal handshake and crisp greeting; then how Archpriest Khoury (Assyrian Orthodox) nearly crushed me, at home once, in a bear hug and massive kiss on both cheeks with his bushy beard (they can't handle that style at all!); then we do Italians, with lots of shouting and crying and hugging and kissing. I pick a different person to act each out. They gag at this. But the best one is the Kiwi Maori way - they just can't handle rubbing noses!!!
Then we do the hermeneutic - what is the best way we can interpret this NT verse into our current culture and retain the essence - ie. warm, brotherly affectionate greeting? They have the point by then. Then we can do a number on legalism and its Biblical flaws. This has been an effective way of deepening their ability to "correctly handle the word of truth", which is what is notoriously lacking in parts of the church in Africa. All sorts of weird teachings get promoted by leaders.
One pastor told us when he was interviewed by the chief apostle of ZAoGA (not your average AoG organisation) he was told he would have to walk on his knees across the room and kneel before him the whole time. This group also teaches their followers (1 million in Zimbabwe alone) must use the Archbishop's name to act as an advocate when they pray through Jesus. My friend (an ex-RC priest) couldn't get out quick enough!. (top of page)
Trip to Mana Pools Game Reserve on the Zambezi River (Zambia border) (Elizabeth reports) This update comes from Harare where we are again staying with friends. We have come back today from Mana Pools, a National Park some six hours' drive north-west of Harare. We managed to secure sufficient diesel to get us up there, drive around this remarkable game park over four days, and back into this city. We stayed in a large two-bedroom thatched cottage on the edge of a pool on the Zambezi River, with the mountains of Zambia looking like 'folded blankets' as a backdrop - paradise. It was a most relaxing time and after three weeks of being on the go, Brian's health improved remarkably. We were surrounded by wildlife in unprotected surroundings and had our own VERY scary moment when out walking we came unexpectedly across a lone bull buffalo sitting in the scrub. We had only moments before been discussing how an acquaintance of mine (who I met in l991 when she was a YWAM worker in Beira, Mozambique) had been killed by a buffalo in this very same park and area two days into her honeymoon, after they walked into one in the scrub unexpectedly! Needless to say Brian gripped my arm in a vice and we made a very hasty retreat ((as in, ran for our lives into a gully). The bull rose to its feet, but didn't charge. That was our last attempt to go walking in the park unaccompanied. We did go on a three hour trek a couple of days later with a National Park guide armed with an AK47. At one point later in the day, he actually unlocked the safety catch when a very angry male elephant threatened to charge the Land Rover our hosts' family was sitting on top of (on a viewing platform). The children were terrified! Oh yes, they call this fun!
Highlight of the 4 day trip - a 40km
round trip over a very rough safari track with very little game, until we eased
down into a dry river bed and saw a leopard cub staring down at us from behind
a tree. It came out, quite unafraid, and watched us for 10 minutes before its
mother called it back into the bush. We also saw lots of hippo (walking right
past our lodge), eland, impala, elephants, baboons, monkeys, mongoose,
squirrels, zebra, warthog, crocs, buffalo, waterbuck, some bushbuck, kudu, a
cheetah (walked past our BBQ on dusk), not to mention being kept awake at night
by the racket the lions made, hyena tipping our garbage bins over every night,
the grunting of hippos (worse than Brian's snoring), and the vast array of
birdlife - from eagles to enormous hornbills. Truly, an assault on the senses!
We now have a couple of days to ready ourselves for our trip to the U.K. where we will spend a few days with my step-father, John Curtis, and his family in Cornwall before linking up with Lifeline's supporting church in London. We plan to stay with Anna Jarvis' parents and of course we're looking forward to seeing her again. It's a year since she left us in Sydney. Brian will speak at a local Lifeline supporting church here in Harare on Sunday. The pastor, Innocent Makwarimba, attended the last Doulos course, and invited us to come and address his congregation. We are much happier going there than to the more American-style church that some of the Lifeline people took us to four weeks ago. We could have been anywhere in Nth America, or Aussie. The indigenous Zimbabwean churches have a particular vitality we love to be in touch with! (top of page)
Election Fever! G'day, folks. A short update you might find interesting. It's after 11pm, and we have just returned from a "township" in the high density area of Harare. It's the eve of the elections and the streets are deserted of cars and pedestrians. That is really unusual here as there are ALWAYS people walking about. It's on edge everywhere. We prayed the whole way over there and back. At the meeting we spoke at, I was just closing in prayer when a couple of truckloads of party supporters drove past the church meeting place (which is a front yard of one brother's house covered in asbestos sheeting and open on the sides and street). Others were walking beside the vehicles. They were chanting slogans in Shona and making a lot of racket. We were really tense wondering if they would trash the place. Afterwards at dinner, one of the leaders mentioned they were MDC supporters and had shouted out, "please pray for us!" I just wish someone had told us what was going on at the time! Would have saved us some very anxious faith-filled moments…
Today is our last day of driving around in the Lifeline vehicle, as tomorrow it has been recommended no one drive around while people are voting. The USA Embassy warned all Americans to stay of the streets tonight and the weekend. We have never been in a situation like this before and value everyone's prayers. Just in case. British Air told us they have moved our departure time forward by 9 hours as they no longer stop over in Zimbabwe. They touch down, disembark, board new passengers and take off again ASAP. All this in such a beautiful land with such a high percentage of Jesus loving people. We love it here and love the people.
All this makes the perils, risks, and hardships of ministry in Oz appear tame! It's weird being here - such a mixture of emotions and reactions, but we are so glad to be here and a part of what is going on. And as we update this at 6am on our last day here, we still wonder why every single day here we have woken up before dawn, regardless of what time we have gone to bed. Makes for a vitalised prayer life! (And the value of an afternoon kip when you can get it!). Lastly from Africa - thanks to all those who have persistently been praying for us - we have sure felt the benefit of faithful, loving friends. (top of page)
My friend Des and I are on a coach travelling from Harare to Bulawayo in Central Zimbabwe. We have been involved in a series of training programs for national pastoral and leadership development. Last week, we were in Mozambique in very different circumstances. The effects of the 17 year long war that ended in 1992 are still very evident there, whereas Zimbabwe is now suffering an economic collapse through cronyism at a high level. I thought perhaps you might be a little interested in the differences between ministering in our part of the world and Africa! So I have attached part of the updates we have been sending home to our church in Greystanes.
Things happen that are very funny from our cultural perspective, while other things bring a sober reminder this is a very dangerous place to live. Even if you don't look at the others, scroll to update #6. That was one of the most horrible experiences of my entire life.
To Everyone back home Update #1 The phone system in Zimbabwe is a mess nowadays, so we are taking the opportunity to send some stuff out at Lifeline House. You know the next bit, "this email is never sent unsolicited. Return with Unsubscribe on the subject line, and we promise never, never to harass or bore you again" (I spoke too soon. The analogue system spat my email out and I am now resending it from Beira the following Tuesday…). Things have reverted to something near normal in Harare. It's quite safe on the streets again. Although Des learned real quick yesterday that you don't act too friendly to the street stall hawkers. One hounded him for ages after he spoke pleasantly to him! We are staying with Dave and Jen Hess, who stayed with us in Sydney for 10 days back in 1993. They have been so gracious to us. Des's (clean, drying) undies disappeared from our room. He was a bit reticent in allowing them to be washed (and ironed!) by a strange woman. But Harriet would have been really offended if he did his own washing….. She washed, dried, and ironed them all over again! I want to know if he is going to take this part of African culture back and try to get Pam onto this system!!!!???? We had to pay $US30 ($A46) each at the airport to get in (it's still like something out of Casablanca!). Dave Hess dropped us off in the queue outside the Mozambique embassy at 7.45am to apply for our visas on Friday. We got near the counter and realised we had both left our extra passport-sized photos at Hess's. Des raced down the street and paid $A15 for a set! Ripped off. Welcome to street dealing! Back in the queue, handing over the $Z850 each ($A34 - another rip-off), in $US when the official says abruptly, "no $US accepted, only $Z!". I also found my Mozambique visa was out of date, and I too had to go and find a photographer nearby. Only paid $A4 for mine, but…. wait for it…. (this is Africa!) didn't notice it ain't Polaroid - you have to wait for it to be developed! Then, after going to the bank for $Z cash, we raced back to the embassy to find the queue now nearly out the door. We sat in line for 2 hours talking with the locals. It was hilarious! The guy behind us was a Branhamite who belonged to the "pure Branham church, which practises polygamy". We went round the mountain with him. Most entertaining (he was 26 and didn't even have one wife, let alone a harem!). Then a fat lady pushed into the queue and lots of people started arguing in Shona…. She was so aggressive she ignored them all and no one knew what to do then. Then we had to come back at 4pm, form a queue again and wait for the visas to be passed out. By now we were old friends with several locals, all patiently suffering the agonies of Mozambicans' love of red tape! And Des is learning what we meant by time being reckoned by the sun being between the horizon and middle of the sky! (Stop laughing, Philip….. I can hear you from here). Des was surprised at the number of locals are genuine Christians. We experienced a wonderful service last night at the Sheraton Concert hall. It seats over 4000 and was full. Our hosts son-in-law led the praise time. They sang in English and sometimes in Shona for an hour or more. You haven't seen anything until you see a three-parts African congregation swaying to the music, dancing and waving large banners, and cheering like an AFL crowd! They love God and aren't afraid to show it. Tomorrow, we drive down to Beira in Mozambique, on the coast 600 km away. They tell us the road is improved, and only sections of it are very rough now (there was a 30cm drop between the seal and the bridge deck at the Pungwe river after the floods two years ago - did wonderful things to vehicles from ends in the dark!). We just had a report that man eating lions are currently active only 10 km from Inhaminga, where Elizabeth, Philip and I went two years ago… It looks like we won't get time to go up the track/road to there this trip. What a pity….. They found some fingers on the track…. That's all.
Update #2 Now we have arrived in Beira after a long dusty trip on the hwy which is being extensively rebuilt above the flood level. You might laugh reading this! It's 6pm and I'm sitting in the dark with a paraffin lamp for light to type this on my battery-powered computer! The power went off an hour after we arrived and has stayed off. This is the first time it's gone off and stayed off for a long time. At least that's what they tell us…. Had a long time of prayer here tonight after dinner by candlelight. Power is still off at 8.30. There was a major in-house theft of money while the Smiths were in Harare while Edmore was in charge. There are no guests here tonight, so we prayed extensively for the situation to become clear. They spent time with the police earlier. The most serious aspect was the disappearance of an office key that will require a major lock change. We have definitely come here in God's good timing. Tomorrow we are spending time with the staff in a study / encouragement session for two hours. We are painting in the afternoon. Then on Thurs/Fri/Sat we do all morning sessions with 35 national pastors. And two night services at the church of one of the main leaders.
Update #3 This visit is very different from the last one. I have just finished quite an exhausting morning of teaching with local pastors (about 30 of them). Many of them oversee several congregations. They are all well dressed; some of them travelled for hours to get here, although most of them live in Beira Des preached last night at a small Church in downtown slums of Beira. By candlelight! He had a tiny podium which held two candles, and he had to be careful not to let the wax fall on the open pages! Could they sing! Vandals had stolen chairs and some of the wooden strips off the benches. The Zimbabwe Consul for Sofala Province was present. Yesterday, Des installed some deadlocks for Martin, after their robbery while they were up in Harare last week. An inside job. One of the workers. They narrowed it down to three possible suspects. Martin reported it to the police yesterday. The police rounded up two of them, took them in for questioning with Martin present, and then beat them mercilessly with batons on the floor. Martin came back so upset he was weeping. He had pleaded with the police not to, but they said this is the way we deal with things in Mozambique. There is a very unusual weather pattern over Beira at present. It has rained the past two nights, and is much cooler than the last visit (same month). Des and I got soaked this morning when we were out praying up the beach road . I prepared the upstairs lounge section for repainting yesterday. And will bog and seal it today. Beira has changed quite a lot in two years. Shops are starting to appear. Even a supermarket is being built! (The area only has i million people!). Although the Lifeline people still drive to Mutare and back to do a big grocery shop for the House once a month (it's 600 km round trip). Even the road is improving, and the shapperzays (local small buses) aren't such wrecks! Houses are starting to be painted; a hotel has been opened, and the old cinema has been restored! There are plenty of mossies around however. The humid weather seems to have brought them out. There's another wreck just up the road. A Japanese fishing boat ran aground just up the road, in a cyclone two months ago, and there it's gonna stay! There are people already living on the wreck! As the surf whacks into it! Tonight, our hosts showed us the video of "The Ghost and the Darkness", a true story set in Kenya of two man-eating lions that terrorised a railway bridge building operation at the turn of the century. We're sleeping with the doors locked tonight! Des and I hope you are all well, and taking nothing for granted in our wonderful country. It is true that you have to travel to the third world to truly appreciate our way of life, and opportunities.
Update #4 Had a great time in a sweaty jam packed room this morning. They literally sang some 12 items! The worship was in 4 languages and was glorious! There are many educated people in this particular church, which is unusual in such a humble building. There were overflow congregations in two other rooms! So a second interpreter stood behind me and shouted into the back room after the first spoke in Portuguese into the main room. Yesterday I took Des walking all along the beach to the shipping graveyard. For one kilometre the beach was covered in turds! There has also been a bad oil spill on the same beach and crude oil has covered much of the low water area. There are some ship wrecks I couldn't remember. We were the only white people in the district and one girl ran beside us shouting mockingly, 'whitey, whitey!' I am reporting her to Charles Perkins when I get home. The Grand Hotel still stinks. We accidently found where they all use as a toilet - in the park over the road behind it. On the concrete paths! Everywhere! Piles of turds! In the street! With signs of urban renewal everywhere, we can't understand why the Municipality doesn't build large basic public dunnies as there is really nowhere for the street people to go...
Update #5 Greetings all the way from beautiful downtown Beira, where the onshore wind wafts those delectable odours away…. Des and I are sitting up in bed at 5am, coz neither of us are asleep. It's a mild tropical night, and the dogs have finally stopped barking outside our open window. Even the mossies have decided it's time to quit. So we have lifted our skirts (mossie nets) and bared our hairy legs to a malaria-infested environment for yet another day! We have two more Ministry Training sessions this morning, from 9 to 12. Des has excelled himself here in what he has ministered. The locals love him! He is a "great father with nine children" so he must be of God. There have been 35 local ministers gathering daily. Many of them oversee multiple churches, but they are very humble men who are keen to learn. We feel quite inadequate among them, as they have been very effective servants of Christ. I caught up with João Madeira yesterday. João interpreted for Philip, Elizabeth, and me last time. He is now working for Feed the Hungry (a ministry our youth group would be at home with!). They are teaching him some computer skills, and he is finally earning a decent wage (by Mozambique standards that is). He is coming to the training sessions today (Sat). We were even able to walk together around the corner to a Portuguese coffee shop! With excellent coffee and a pastry! Well, yeah, they had run out of milk, but this is Mozambique! It cost me all of 27,000 metacais (that's "meta-ky-s, or megabytes, as Philip called them!). Before you fall on the floor at these outrageous prices, it came to $A3….. Early Monday we drive up to the Zimbabwe border (300 km) where Martin and Debbie will buy more groceries, and come home again ("I'm just nicking down to Yass for the groceries, dear, shouldn't be more than 2 days!" Hmmm. We are spoiled, aren't we?…. Des and I catch a bus then back to Harare (another 300 km), stay overnight and then catch another bus to Bulawayo, where we do another 4 day training course with ministers / leaders from the Matabele part of Zimbabwe. (Sat 1pm) We finished today with much joy among the leaders. I told them the British origins of the all-powerful tie and they went into hysterics. I borrowed one, wore it and then blindfolded myself for execution. We had just finished a any-questions free-for-all. This is much different from the last trip. God has really used Martin and Debbie to build cross-cultural bridges, and we have had the privilege of crossing over that bridge.
Update #6 We had the most horrific experience today - 100 km from the Mozambique - Zimbabwe border we drove over a bridge slowly passing a woman staggering about on the Hwy apparently very drunk (the hwys here have people walking beside them everywhere). To our absolute horror, we saw her flesh was covered with African killer bees and they were stinging her to death. I am still shaken 12 hours later. This is a cursed continent. You wear bare feet and they warn you even the ground has worms that hook onto your soles and burrow into your skin to lay eggs. Your washing must all be ironed to stop a fly egg hatching into a parasite that breaks you out in boils. You swim in the rivers and river worm penetrates your skin and eats into your liver and eyeballs. It goes on and on. An African in a ute pulled up alongside her, windows up, as she lay on the ground screaming, and urged her to fall onto the tray. He couldn't get out and one of our party was stung 20 times 100 metres before he got to her; there were swarms of them all over the place. It was terrifying. We were killing bees in the Landrover. But no one else got stung. We could only pray. She staggered up several times and finally fell on the back of the ute, which took off; the driver got out further up the road to help her, was attacked, and jumped back in again, heading off at speed to a town 5 kms away which had some medical help. Whether she lived, we don’t know. The local missionary doubted she could survive the power of the stings. They are very different from our bees. This isn't a fun letter entirely, is it? But it's life for these people, and it stirs my heart afresh to serve them.‹
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Update #7 We have spent the last four days enduring sub-zero night temperatures and pleasant 23 deg. days some 5000' ASL 30 km south of Bulawayo on a YFC camp site with 20 pastors from all over Zimbabwe. This is part of their Doulos Training Course. They meet for two weeks five times a year for intensive study and training. Many are in their mid-20's and have already pioneered churches. An AoG minister has joined us from Manchester. He can't believe how cold it is as soon as the sun goes down!
Update #8 I am sitting in a very, very slow train 30 km out of Harare which is running 1 1/2 hours late. Des and I are sharing a second class sleeper with 3 other African men overnight from Bulawayo to Harare. It has been a trip to remember! Why? Well the carriages are all 45 years old; it's squashed, but actually quite comfortable. Except… we are sitting (reclining, lying down, sitting up again) right over an axle or wheel that is out of round! It has a flat spot on it, which has clacked away at about 95 decibels all night! No one got much sleep.
We finished our part of the Doulos Training series Saturday 30km out of Bulawayo, in Southern Zimbabwe. Des and the minister from the UK (who has never been here before either) spent yesterday in Matopos NP, which is a refuge for white and black rhinos. The signs say all people on foot will be shot on sight, and they mean it. Since they shot dead two poachers, no more rhinos have been killed. Des tells me the registered guide walked them through a rhino trail (he's licensed to walk) and they came to within 12m of a large white rhino. After Des and the rhino compared schnozzles, the rhino conceded and they agreed not to charge each other.
Meanwhile, being the spiritual and faithful one (nahh. I said to Des if you have come this far and don't get to see any wild life in its own setting, it would be a travesty!), I stayed at the Training centre for our last time together in a very powerful communion and worship time. We prayed for several who had never exercised in the gifts of the Spirit before. Some very significant declarations came forth about the future of this country and the rôle the next generation of Zimbabwean Christians would play. One young man (Rayman) had a vision that was very biblical and powerful. All this from such quietly spoken young adults!
We met up with Loxley Ford, the Lifeline Director for Sthn Africa and George Moyo - a former Catholic priest, who was baptised in the Holy Spirit while still a parish priest. One of the senior Church leaders tried to have him killed (this is not uncommon in this culture - it extends from the top in politics and some churches and tribal systems). Last night, over dinner, he told us about an ambush during the Zimbabwe war (early 1980's) when Nkomo's soldiers murdered two priests on their mission station; George was having a bath and escaped! They returned later and lined him and several nuns up for execution, when an outside disturbance made them leave in a hurry. George sent 10 of his developing leaders (6 young men and 4 young women) to the Doulos course. They are planting churches out from Bulawayo and they are only in their mid-20's.
Just before we left Harare, our dear friends there took us to a lion and cheetah park 30 km out where they have several magnificent rare black-maned Cape lions. They are full-grown, very large, and quite magnificent in the typical Zimbabwean setting of rocky granite outcrops, bush and long grass.
I hope you have got something from what we've emailed the past three weeks. Our Zimbabwean friends warned us if you come back here you will come to deeply love the land and its people. The Shona and Matabele people are like that. When you greet one another they will hold your hand for 3-5 minutes as a sign of welcome and affection. When they come to Christ, this rich side of their culture translates very easily into genuine christian fellowship. Des and I have loved it! I would have loved to bring home a bunch of them to sing God's praises their way. [top of page]